First, my super helpful and gadget savvy brother-in-law helped me map out a 20 mile course which was essentially a 4 mile course that I ran 5 times. The trick was having a course that had sidewalks because some of the route was on busy roads. Second, my little sister was the hero of the day and rode her bike ahead of me the entire run handing me my Gatorade and water as needed. So, we started out. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It never got too hot and there was just enough wind to provide a nice cool breeze without making progress difficult. Part of the course wound it's way past a stadium where a middle school track meet was in progress. At one point, when we went by, the crowd was cheering loudly at the runners on the track. Tammy turned around and said, "Listen, Lori! They are cheering for you!" My first several miles, I felt great. I hit 13 miles around 2:03 which was exciting.
However, after that, it was harder and harder for me to keep the pace. At mile 16 I actually stopped for a few seconds and may have yelled in exasperation. I guess I hit "the wall." I was determined to make 20 miles though so I forced myself to chill out (I was pretty much freaking out because I was so frustrated) and started moving again. I told myself, "once you hit 18 miles, you will feel great because that is the longest you have ever run." Well, at 18 miles I wanted to just stop. The last 4 miles were so long. I was done. I had no energy. I had done well with the fluid and gel intake so I couldn't understand why it was so hard to finish. At 19.5 miles, I stopped again. Tammy asked, "Are you done?" I had to admit that I still had 1/2 mile to go. She looked at me funny like, "Why did you stop then?" The truth was I couldn't go another step. However, I HAD to get my 20 miles in. I wanted to see that number on my Garmin so badly. I kept thinking about the friends who had bought it for me and they were going to ask how my 20 mile run went and I wanted to give them a good report instead of telling them I didn't finish it. So, I forced my legs to move again and somehow finished that half mile. 20 miles...done! It took 3 hours and 16 minutes.
Doug helped me view my stats later and we discovered that I had an average pace of 9:49 per mile. From peeking at my Garmin, I knew I ran the last 2 miles around 11:30 per mile, so what I learned was that I started out way too fast. Even though I felt great most of the run, 20 miles and later 26.2 is a long way too run and I need to respect the distance. I need to force myself to slow down because what feels great at mile 10 will probably be grueling after mile 20. I think I will try to follow a pacer to make sure I don't do anything crazy in the first few miles. I know I just want to finish the marathon, but the competitor in me wants to finish well. I also feel pressure to do well because I don't know when I will be able to train and compete in a marathon again. My schedule this week begins my taper:
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 3 miles
Saturday: 8 miles.
I have been pretty sore, from the long run, but this week and next week are light and I should feel refreshed on race day. I told Doug that training for a marathon is like being pregnant: you wait and wait for so long and it seems like the big day will NEVER come. In my case, it really didn't come because Jack was nine days late. I am not saying that receiving my finishers medal will be as significant as holding a new baby, but it is going to be a day I will never forget, I am sure. It will be surreal to be done but I am looking forward for the race and of course, taking it easy for a few weeks afterwards. Please pray for peace for my nerves and for NO WIND!
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